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Autobiography of a Face

At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faced the taunts of classmates. In her memoir, Grealy tells her story of great suffering and remarkable strength with considerable wit. Vividly portraying the pain of peer rejection and the guilty pleasures of wanting to be special, Grealy captures with unique insight what it is like as a child and young adult to be torn between two warring impulses.

Leah says:"Endurance. Grace."

Publisher's Summary

Double take: a rapid or surprised second look, either literal or figurative, at a person or situation whose significance has not been completely grasped at first.

Kevin Michael Connolly is a 23-year-old man who has seen the world in a way most of us never will. Whether swarmed by Japanese tourists at Epcot Center as a child or holding court at the X Games on his mono-ski, Kevin Connolly has been an object of curiosity since the day he was born without legs. Growing up in rural Montana, he was raised like any other kid (except, that is, for his father's MacGyver-like contraptions such as the "butt boot"). As a college student, Kevin traveled to 17 countries on his skateboard, including Bosnia, China, Ukraine, and Japan. In an attempt to capture the stares of others, he took more than 33,000 photographs of people staring at him.

In this dazzling memoir, Connolly casts the lens inward to explore how we view ourselves and what it is to truly see another person. We also get to know his quirky and unflappable parents and his girlfriend. From the home of his family in Helena, Montana, to the streets of Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, Kevin's remarkable journey will change the way you look at others, and the way you see yourself.

What the Critics Say

"Beautiful, revealing, and stimulating...[Connolly] is a good storyteller...whether describing his first high school wrestling match, the path from novice to champion skier or what it's like to travel around the world on a skateboard." (Publishers Weekly)